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THE
HISTORY OF FIVE
[ you can also view their CAREER
TIMELINE & RECORDINGS... ]
A
early 1997 ad in the UK
theatre magazine, The Stage, asked for young male singers/dancers to
audition
for a new group in the boy band-style but with "attitude and edge".
The father/son team of Bob and Chris Herbert had earlier created The Spice Girls
and thought the time was right for a male group. 3000 hopefuls auditioned
(ten
times as many as for Spice) and they were finally narrowed down to only 14. As
the lads waited for the finals,
five of them began talking...comparing
styles...and strategizing. If they presented themselves
as
a unit, perhaps that would impress the Herbert's. It did and they were chosen. The Five were moved
together into one house in the suburbs
of London to bond, get to know each other
and REHEARSE. They worked on their act for months...a pop sound with
a rocking rap edge and lots of dancing. They also terrorized their middle-class
neighborhood and earned the
nickname "The
Neighbors from Hell". They were messy, loud and kept
strange hours ...typical young men anywhere. Most of them
had never been on their own before
and had a lot to learn. The youngest, Sean, was only 15 and even the oldest, J,
was only 20 years old.
The Herbert's had easily secured the boys (who had finally chosen a name, FIVE) a six-album deal
with
BMG/RCA (Arista in the US). The lads were packed off to Sweden in May 1997
for two months to cut their first album.
At the famous Cheiron Studios in
Stockholm and under the wings of the late, great Denniz Pop and Max Martin, FIVE
recorded the first tracks for their debut album. Homesickness was a problem with
everyone, but when they listened
to their recording sessions, FIVE knew they had a
unique, hot and marketable sound.
The first single
released in the UK was "Slam Dunk (Da Funk)" in December of 1997. It
was a big first hit and made the UK
top ten. It had a lukewarm reception in the US but was still chosen by the
National Basketball Association (NBA) as it's new theme song.
Nevertheless, the lads were ecstatic. At the end of 1997, they were
in the
annual Smash Hits Tour around Britain with The Backstreet Boys and Boyzone. They
were named the Best
New Tour Group. All this in less than 8 months. More singles
followed in 1998..."When The Lights Go Out" (#4) , "Got The
Feelin'" (#3), "Everybody Get Up" (#2) and "Until The Time is
Through" (#2). Their second US single "Got The Feelin'" did
much better. Finally, "When The Lights Go Out" cracked the US
top ten, earned a gold record and sent FIVE on an eight day tour to promote the
upcoming album. An In-Concert special on the Disney Channel sent FIVE's US
popularity soaring. They appeared on numerous USA TV shows as well. Doing a
traffic-stopping concert in Times Square in NYC and dropping by MTV didn't
hurt either. The album "Five" was
released in June 1998 and went straight to
number one on the UK charts. It eventually went multi-platinum around the
world...FIVE
had arrived!
1999 saw FIVE's
popularity soaring around the world. Many awards and appearances
only added to
their packed
schedule and hectic lives. They started a US concert tour with N'Sync, but were so worn down by a year of 18 hour
days and recording company pressure that they had to pull out, returning
to England to rest, pull themselves together and work on their second album. But, the hits kept coming; "It's The
Things You
Do" (USA), "If Ya Gettin' Down" (#2) and then "Keep On Movin", their
1st UK Number One. In August, their manager, Bob Herbert was killed in a car
accident while Five were promoting in South America and his son Chris took over
the management duties. The album
"Invincible" was
released in Oct 1999 in the UK (but not until May 2000 in the USA). It was a supreme effort as the
lads not only
sang the songs, but co-wrote most of them as well...not usually done by most
"boy bands". In December
1999, FIVE shot the
video for a new single release called "Don't Wanna Let You Go" (#9). It was
their biggest production
to date with a story line, incredible sets, costumes and effects.
However, it was not Five's choice for their next single release and they were
extremely unhappy with it. Production delays & other problems left them little time to promote the
song before their World Tour and it failed to reach the top of the
charts, but became one of their biggest selling singles ever due to an
incredible stay on the top 40 list. The video
was released in the UK on March 6, 2000.
3 days earlier, FIVE had won the Brit
Award for Best Pop Act. Their performance at the Brits with the rock group
Queen
was the talk of England and the song "We Will Rock You" became their next single & video on July 17th.
It
went straight to #1 in the UK...their second number one single in
less than 9 months. This was all while FIVE were
rehearsing and then embarking on a jam-packed World Tour from
March-May. Near the end of the tour, just as the lads were heading for
South America, Ritchie contracted chicken pox and had to be flown
hurriedly back to the UK. Five continued on for the next week without
him, finally starting to feel a bit tired and worn from 3 1/2 months on
the road.
They continued on that summer with a recovered Ritchie at various venues in the UK, including
many Party in the Park concerts hosted by British radio stations. On July 24th, BMG UK re-issued the
Invincible album with new
videos, re-mixed versions of some songs and an extra CD with 5 live
performances. Also added was "Don't Fight It Baby", a song
original to the USA version of Invincible, but never released in the UK.
A scheduled concert tour of Asia had to be cancelled due to serious
problems with Five's Asian record company and then the long-awaited
promotional tour of the United States was also called off when Arista
Records hired a new president, decided to change the direction of their
music, and dropped Five from their label. The boys needed to regroup,
rest and get their heads together.
The lads spent the next
few months relaxing, writing songs and deciding in what direction their future would
lie. They continued to win awards in Holland, Europe and the UK. They
began work on their 3rd album and, in December 2000, launched their
second big tour, playing at the largest arenas in the UK as a way to thank
their loyal home fans & to placate their UK label, BMG. A scheduled single release in December was held
back until summer 2001 as the boys decided they wanted their next album to be
completely theirs - writing every song and spending more time developing
their personal sound. January 2001 festival concerts in Rio de
Janeiro and Caracas were smashing successes and Five returned home to
finish their 3rd album, "Kingsize" (originally called
"XL" but changed for legal reasons), which took until May 2001
to complete. Headline appearances at MTV's Five Night Stand and at a
huge joint Israeli concert with the Irish group, Westlife, capped off
April & May 2001. They began filming the video for the first single from the
album, "Let's Dance" at the end of June when suddenly Sean was
diagnosed with mononucleosis/glandular fever. They had to complete the video
without him, using a cardboard cut-out in his place. Rumors abounded
that Sean wasn't really ill but had left the band. Scott then got the
news that his fiancée Kerry, who was pregnant with their first child, was
having some difficulties and the baby may be very premature. Baby
Brennan arrived July 11th, 5 weeks early, while Abs, J and Rich were
promoting in Holland, and Scott temporarily left to
stay with his new family for a while. Five then had to begin heavy
promotion for Let's Dance, scheduling a full concert weekend at the end
of August to kick off the August 27th release of "Kingsize".
But again fate stepped in and, with Sean still ill and Scott home with
his new son, Rich ripped the tendons in his left foot while Five were
performing with only 3 members in Belgium on 30 July. The single was released on
August 13th and it debuted at number one in the UK... mostly due to the
strenuous promotion by Abs, J and Rich. The hilarious video was well
received all over the world. Without Scott and Sean, and with Rich
injured, the concerts had to be cancelled and the promotion for
Kingsize, which was released on August 27th and debuted at #3, took a
back seat as Five pulled out of sight again to rethink their options for the
future.
A month of meetings and discussions culminated with the lads deciding
they had finally reached the end of the road. All their important
battles had been won, 'Kingsize' had been released and they were tired
of fighting the record companies for every tiny thing they wanted and
being pressured into many months of endless promotion for Kingsize and
it's subsequent single releases. Fate seemed to be against them this
past summer with Sean's illness, Rich's injury and Scott's premature
baby. So on September 27, one day before Scott's wedding to Kerry Oaker,
Five made a surprise live appearance on MTV Select in London and announced
they were 'calling it a day'. The lads had always said they would go out
while they were still on top and they did just that. It was a truly
painful decision for them all and had taken weeks to decide, but Five
showed a very united front as they made the announcement to the shocked
fans in attendance. There were tears and sadness all around but Rich
assured everyone that Five were leaving the scene as the best of friends
and they were still 'like brothers'. He also noted that Five would be
releasing a last single "Closer To Me" with a companion single
"Rock The Party" on 22 October (this was later changed to cd#1
& cd#2... 'Closer' on 22 Oct and 'Rock' on 26 Nov). MTV then
showed the new compilation video of 'Closer To Me' with rare footage of
Five from the past 4 1/2 years. It debuted on the UK charts at #4 with
no promotion. As far as the future, both Abs and Rich are pursuing solo careers in
music, Scott was a radio DJ in Essex for a few months and TV guest host, Sean is writing songs for other artists and J
has totally retired from show business, devoting his life to
humanitarian causes & just plain relaxing. All the lads attended Scott &
Kerry's marriage in
Essex the very next day and it was as beautiful as everyone hoped,
considering the events of only one day before. Scott came back to UK TV
(the cduk Show) to premiere the animated video for "Rock The Party" on
10 November and BMG rush-released an album & video tape of Five's best songs
as "Five - Greatest Hits" on 19 November, which peaked on the charts
at #9.
Written by Rita Gillespie-Stein for FiveUSA
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